


Long Live The King

by SeliniErastis



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: F/M, petrigrof
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25320514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeliniErastis/pseuds/SeliniErastis
Summary: Betty has traveled far and wide through the land of Ooo trying to bring back her lover. Now, she finally found the strongest lead towards saving him, but she can't do it alone. (Settled before "You Forgot Your Floaties").
Relationships: Betty Grof/Ice King | Simon Petrikov
Comments: 12
Kudos: 19





	1. Wizard City

His gaze on her was full of tenderness, love and respect. The touch of his hand on her bare skin was soft and electric, making her blush and get the sweetest goosebumps she could ever have.

The sunshine entering through the window announced the beginning of a new day in their lives. Or rather, of their life, the life they have decided to share. Another shine, as warm and bright as the one that lit the room, came from their smiles watching each other waking up. The memories of another night full of love were still fresh in their memories.

She giggled as she buried her fingers deep into his messy brown hair.

“Never… never leave me… Simon” she said, softly.

He took her hand and kissed it. Then, he leaned in and gave her a quick pecking kiss in the lips.

“I won’t, Betty. I won’t”, he whispered.

* * *

She woke up. Those memories now turned into dreams were so usual that she had no more tears to lament the long lost times. The nights of love or Netflix (or both) were replaced by nights of endless investigation, in which she used to fall sleep over her work. Although she had to come out every once in a while for food, resources and investigation itself, most of her time was spent inside that cave. She chose it specifically because she could see directly at that place that meant nothing to her but doom and pain: the Ice Kingdom.

She swore to see those mountains melt and that she was going to be the cause.

She got her face off from her papers on the table. She stood up from her chair and stretched her arms and legs, feeling the warm of the sun entering inside the cave. She repeated her daily motto:

“Another day, another step closer to…”

She stopped. Her mind was attacked by visions of the last night. She didn’t fall sleep accidentally, she decided to give herself a rest for the good work done that evening. And she did it with a smile in her face, something quite rare. She remembered her last words before deeply yawning.

“ _This is it. I found it”_

She quickly went back at her papers. She looked through them. The connections in her mind were endless, coherent and immediate. She had found it. She jumped into her magic flying carpet and departed as fast as she could towards her destination. She could almost feel Simon’s warm skin again.

After a couple of minutes of travel, she reached the entrance to Wizard’s City. The gigantic rock wall in front of her, more than a defense, was a mock for everyone who wished to enter there. But she was about to mock the mockers, she was going to laugh at their faces, practicing with a confident smile before saying:

“Wizards rule”

The wall disappeared, allowing her to see the hidden city and its buildings. She lost most of her gold getting that information from a run-away magician, but it was worth every penny. She put her hood on and entered, riding the carpet to not seem suspicious; that magician also told her about the fate of any non-magical being that dared to enter the city.

Of all the strange things she had seen in Ooo since she got there, magicians were probably the strangest. Some of them looked humanoid, others looked like geometrical figures, and others definitely broke any logic about their appearance. One of them, one that used to hang out often with Simon, made her giggle uncontrollably; she had the humor of a twelve years old.

She was flying barely a pair of inches above the ground. Enchantments, the name of potions and magical artifacts, magical weapons… everything was screamed at the same time at the ears of the people in the streets. She shook her head after finding herself getting interested in the words of a wizard with fox head who offered her an anti-age potion.

“Hey! Hey you!” someone exclaimed. She couldn’t stop feeling she was about to be discovered, but it could be anyone else who was being called.

“You! The hooded one!”

It was definitely her.

“You stole my carpet! Guards!”

“Time to fly” she whispered.

She accelerated the carpet, passing through other wizards, knocking off some of them and some more items in the way. She looked back. About three big buffed green-skin guards were chasing her.

“Stop now! Return the carpet and we’ll be easy on you” one of them exclaimed.

“She’s not stopping, and I think I’ve never saw her before” said another one.

“We have an unregistered stealer. Shoot non-lethal beams” ordered the leader of the group.

Soon, Betty had to evade the beams that the guards were shooting from their clubs. One of them hit in a wall just in front of her, destroying it completely and covering her in dust.

“And those are non-lethal?” she exclaimed.

She lifted the front of the carpet, forcing it to go higher and stop flying at ground level. She went higher than the surrounding buildings and stopped a few seconds to look around.

“Where is it? Where is it?” she asked, frantically. “There it is!” she finally exclaimed.

She heard the exact same phrase below her. The guards had spotted her. She flew again, magical beams being shoot from the streets. Finally, one of the beams hit the carpet. It began flapping and catching on fire. She began to descend quickly.

“No, no, no! Just a little more, please! We are almost there” she begged, but never losing sight of her objective.

“Are you seeing where she is heading at?” asked one of the guards, baffled by the sudden realization. “Stop her, now!”

* * *

Everything was in peace.

The smooth music, the bubbles floating around popping with a soft sound after a few seconds and the smell of wet dirt were relaxing to him. He leaned in, smelling the flowers he had been taken care of for years. He sighed in content.

“Keep being beautiful, little ones” said the Grand Master Wizard.

When he finished watering his plants, he took a pair of small scissors and proceeded to prune them.

Suddenly, his calm was interrupted by the sound of one of his windows being broken and something heavy falling crashing his garden.

Betty fell off the carpet, rolling on the ground until she hit a wall. Seven guards stormed from the door, surrounded Betty and aimed at her with their clubs.

“It’s over. You have invaded the Grand Master Wizard’s chamber. You are too dangerous to keep alive!”

Betty, still confused and dizzy from hitting the wall, just heard mumbles as she got on her knees. But as soon as she could see the red beams ready to be shot out of the guards’ clubs just in front of her face, she gasped. That red bright was almost hypnotic and the only thing they allowed her to see was her failure. The plan had gone wrong. She closed her eyes, feeling the tears about to break them and fall down. She failed to the person she loved the most.

“What is happening here?” demanded to know the Grand Master Wizard.

“This person robbed a flying carpet and then stormed into your place. She’s not registered, she is obviously a threat” said one guard.

“Stop, you fools!” exclaimed the wizard, “Don’t you see who she is? She’s the one that saved us from Bellanoche. Put your clubs down”

The guards retreated without complain. Betty opened her eyes to see them completely still, just looking at her, but no more trying to kill her. At her right, she found the hand of the Grand Wizard who helped her to get on her feet.

“Tell me, witch, what’s your name?” he asked.

“My name is Betty Grof, but I’m not a witch. I’m just a human. I came to…”

“She is not magical!” exclaimed the leader of the guards as the whole group assumed an offensive position, aiming their clubs at her again. “Prepare for…!”

“Stop! And leave the room!” ordered the Grand Wizard. The guards obeyed him and let them alone. “So… you are not a magical being, hmm?”

“No, I’m not. But I saved all your butts in a rough time and you owe me a big one!” she exclaimed, pointing at the wizard. “I want information about the Ice Crown”.

“The Ice Crown?” asked the wizard, confused. “Why would you want to know about it?”

“I must save the person under its spell. He’s my fiancé, Simon Petrikov. I came from one thousand years in the past to be with him, just to find out he cannot live if the magic in the crown is suppressed. I know you have information about every magic artifact in this land and I demand access to it”.

The Grand Master Wizard stared at Betty for a couple of seconds. He put his hand in his beard and began to play with it, thinking deeply. He got a wand out of the fur that covered him and blew a bubble at Betty, getting her inside it.

“Let’s go” he said. With a motion of his hand, the bubble with Betty inside followed him.

They went down spiral stairs in a hall made out of rock, not much different from Betty’s cave, lit only by candles. At the end of the stairs, they reached a big wooden door with several locks at the right side. The Grand Wizard took his wand out again and began to swing it and chant magical words.

“Antiqui animi! Aperire sapientiam tuam!”

Betty could hear the locks opening, leaving only a giant padlock just in the middle of the door. The wizard took a key out of his fur and opened it. He pushed the door as several candles got lit magically to let them see what was inside that chamber. Her eyes sparkled when she discovered it was a giant library. They went inside.

“The Ice Crown is ancient magic. Much more older than us, even older than humans”.

“What?” asked Betty, baffled.

“The origins of that crown go thousands of millions of years into the past. As long as we know, it was created to stop a massive disaster from happening, but it failed somehow” he said as they passed through the bookshelves.

The wizard finally took a big red book from a shelf. They headed towards a table. He popped the bubble, letting Betty put her feet on ground again. He put the book in the table. Then, he casted a big hourglass on the table.

“There is all the information we have about the crown. You have three hours to find what you want”

“What? But this book is huge! It’s bigger than my arm and it has like four hundred pages!” she complained. “This is not fair! I saved you!”

“And then you illegally stormed into our city in which no-magical beings are prohibited from entering. You are lucky I didn’t vanish you myself. We owe you one and I’m paying it. Don’t lose time” he said as he hit the sand clock with his wand, prompting the sand to fall.

Betty growled, but she wouldn’t waste this opportunity. She had come too far to rage quit. She opened the book. The index listed several chapters but there was something weird about them: every chapter was written in a different language, some of them totally unrecognizable for her. She sighed, with her palm in her face, and began the investigation.

The time passed. The sand was falling grain by grain. She didn’t manage all the languages in the book as an expert but she had some basic knowledge. English, German and Russian weren’t a problem, but she skipped most of the Arabic and Chinese. She completely ignored some kind of hieroglyphic language she presumed to be from some Artic culture, due to the presence of what seemed to be bears.

“You are running out of time” said the Grand Wizard.

“Shut up” Betty complained quietly. She looked at the sand clock and realized that in fact her time was getting short and she still hadn’t found anything that could help her. The only thing that book seemed to have in its pages were stories and legends about those who were affected by the cursed item through the millennia.

She wanted to take the clock, smack it in the wizard’s head, fly with the book and hopefully not be killed in her way out of the city. But she was in enough problems already. It was better to remain calm and take advantage of the time she still had. Until she found something that made her heart jump.

_“The next lines are the only register we have about the origins of the crown. Unluckily, this ancient language has been already forgotten and there’s no translator alive, being ‘origin’ the only word we could translate. Even so, we include it in the hope of someone being able to understand it in the future and put an end to the despicable curse the golden crown brings to its bearers”_

Betty gasped. She began to read but it was totally impossible for her to understand those words. She looked at the clock just in time to see the last grain of sand falling. She glanced at the Grand Wizard Master, who was giving her his back. She ripped off the page as fast as she could and closed the book to disguise the sound of the ripping paper. She turned the page into a paper ball and put it in her pocket.

The sound of the heavy book being closed dragged the wizard’s attention. “Wha-? Hey! Time is over!”

“Yeah, I see” replied Betty, sarcastically.

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

“I think I can make advances with what I got”

“Fine then. We paid”, the Grand Wizard Master casted another bubble that made them ascend until they reached the hall in the wizard’s castle. “It’s time for you to go. Your carpet has been repaired and you can leave. Never come back” he stressed.

“Geez! Chill man. With that attitude, I’m surely never coming back”

“Much better, now go!” he rather ordered.

Betty jumped onto his repaired flying carpet and left the castle, abandoning the city moments later. She took the paper ball from her pocket and unscrambled it. She tried to read it again to no avail, there was no way for her to get something from it. But maybe someone else could. She looked up at the sky, it was still early. The person in her plans required to be visited much later, when the sun didn’t caress the ground.

She went back at her cave, took off her cloak and prepared a meal. She hummed happily as she wagged the casserole content. She ate and enjoyed what she cooked. She went back at her bed and took something from behind her pillow, a photo. She kissed it and laid down looking at it.

“Just a little bit more, Simon. Hang in there”


	2. Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading the first chapter, I hope you like the new one!

“Who is she, Simon?” said Marceline, pointing at the woman in the photo he was holding.

Simon was taken by surprise; he didn’t expect Marceline to be awake that late, much less to have her jumping from behind him and breaking the silence of the vast wasteland just in his ear. He jumped on his sit, losing grip of the photo and almost letting it fall into the fire.

“Marcy! What are you doing awake at this hour?” asked Simon startled, as he took the photo back from the ground.

“I wasn’t sleepy” replied the toddler, sitting next to Simon, to his left. “Who is she?” she asked again, pointing at the photo.

“Oh, her?” Simon pointed at the woman in it, “She was my fiancé, Betty”.

“What is a fiancé?”.

“Is someone with whom you commit to marry in a short time, sweetie”.

“Are you gonna get married?” exclaimed Marceline excited. “When is it? Can I go with you? Can I wear a pretty dress? I want a red one!” she said, standing on a log and jumping.

Simon had a bittersweet feeling inside him. He was always happy to see Marceline cheerful in the middle of the disaster they were living in, but the truth was there to remind him of the loving things he had lost because of the crown. He took her from the waist and made her sit again.

“I fear I’m not, darling. Not anymore” he said in a sigh.

“But why not? Weren’t you committed to it? Are you gonna break your promise?”.

Simon bit his lower lip. Explaining things to a little girl like Marceline was difficult, even more to face the idea that maybe he did something to the woman she loved while he was under the influence of the crown.

“No, Marcy. It’s just…” he sighed again. “She is gone. Like… everyone else” he lied. Or at least he expected it was a lie.

“Oh” exclaimed Marceline, ashamed. She hugged Simon’s left arm. “I’m sorry for making you sad, Simon. I didn’t mean to”.

Simon smiled and caressed the toddler’s head. He knew it wasn’t her fault, he knew she didn’t mean bad. She was his priority now.

“It’s okay, Marcy. Everything is okay”.

Marceline sniffed when she separated herself from Simon and looked back at him. “You didn’t tell me her name”.

“Her name was Betty”.

“She was very pretty. And she looked smart” pointed Marceline, looking at the photo.

“Yeah” replied Simon with melancholy. “She was”.

Marceline yawned after a few moments of contemplating the fire next to Simon. The former antiquarian took the girl and put her in her sleeping bag. He felt the grip of the little girl in his sleeve when he was about to go.

“Can you sing me a lullaby?”.

“Of course, darling” said Simon with a smile. “Let me see. Oh, yes! I have one. It goes like this…”.

* * *

_“Love, it will get you nowhere  
you are on your own, lost in the wild.  
So come to me now,  
I could use someone like you,  
someone who’ll kill on my command  
and ask no-”_

“Finn! Why did you stop beat boxing?” exclaimed Marceline, stopping her bass playing.

“Do… do you think love has no sense?” asked the boy, looking at the ground.

Marceline facepalmed. “This again? I told you, you have to let her go, man! It’s gonna destroy your mind. You better find something else to get yourself busy with”.

“But what about the future? Is every single love interest I will have destined to fail?”.

Marceline groaned, annoyed. “Jake, can you help me here?”.

“Nah-ah!” replied Jake from the kitchen, eating nachos, “I had enough of that in the house. It’s your turn to deal with him”.

Marceline sighed. She stopped floating and sat in the sofa, inviting Finn to sit with her. It was really uncomfortable for Finn to sit there; the piece of furniture was hard as rock but he accepted his friend’s offer. Once the boy was there, Marceline put her arm around him.

“I know how you feel” began the vampire. “I’ve been there a couple of times myself. I know you miss Flame Princess. Seeing her face, hugging her, kissing her, feeling her gooey gummy skin and scaring her citizens”.

“What?”.

“Don’t matter that last part” said Marceline, nonchalantly. “My point is, all that is in the past. You have to look after yourself too, Finn. Having your own fun, your own life, with no schedules about when you can see each other because responsibilities…” she mocked.

“Are we talking about the same person, Marceline?”.

“Don’t get distracted. Your own happiness matters too. It’s in fact what matters the most. If love comes again, then enjoy it while it lasts. Don’t think too much about the future. It’s gonna mess up your fabulous beat boxing abilities” she said, giving him a playful noogie.

Finn giggled and managed to get Marceline out of him. “Ok then! Time to play some sick jams, Marcy!” he exclaimed, lifting his arms, then pointing at the vampire.

“That’s what I wanted to hear!” Marceline floated and grabbed her bass, ready to play again.

The night kept going, filling Marceline’s house with the sound of a hellish bass, an energetic beat box and crunchy nachos in the kitchen. After a while, the two musicians stopped to have a snack. While Finn and Jake where enjoying their sandwiches and Marceline a deep red apple, another question hit the human’s mind.

“What about Simon and Betty?”.

“What about them?” said Marceline.

“They have been separated for one thousand years and as far as I know, she’s still trying to save him from the crown. She’s sacrificing too much for him, even maybe her own life”.

“Finn, love is weird as clups” stated Marceline, draining the last part of red out of her apple. “And every case is different. Simon used to tell me stories about her when I was a child. They were in an eternal love struck for each other that you wouldn’t believe it even if you saw them”. Marceline fixed her gaze on the colorless apple in her hand. “I really hope she can bring him back”.

“Yeah, me too. Would be good for Simon to be happy again” said Finn.

“And it would be good for all to stop the princesses’ kidnappings. Less work!” exclaimed Jake.

“Hehe yeah! That would be nice too” replied Finn. “Have you seen Betty lately?”.

“She had come to visit me a couple of times, she wanted information. I gave her what I had and told her to take care. I haven’t seen her in almost three weeks though”.

“I bet she’s dead by now” said Jake.

In that moment, someone knocked at Marceline’s door. The vampire hovered to the door and opened for her visitor.

“Betty!”.

“Marceline!” greeted Betty, hugging her.

“A ghost!” exclaimed Jake, falling backwards.

“Marceline, Marceline! I have something very important to tell you!”.

“Really? That sounds good! C’mon enter. Those there are my friends Finn and Jake. Finn is a human, just like you”.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Betty” greeted Finn, taking her hand and kneeling in front of her. “Glad to help you as much as we can”.

“Oh! You don’t have to do that” said Betty, blushing and giggling. “I remember you from when I arrived here, but that time was… a little rushed to present ourselves”.

“Yeah, don’t worry” said Jake, shaking hands with Betty, “I’m Jake. And I suppose I’m also in the train to do everything we can to help you reunite with your lover”.

“You should feel honored” said Marceline, “They are the greatest heroes around here. Finn is a pretty good fighter to be quite honest”.

“That would be a big help. Thank you, guys” replied Betty. “Oh, by the way! Marceline, I found something big! I finally found it!” she said with excitement and a big grin.

“What is it?” asked Marceline.

“It’s this paper!” Betty unscrambled the paper in her pocket and presented it to Marceline. “I took it from a book in Wizard City. But I can’t understand the language it’s written on”.

“Wait. Did you enter into wizard city _alone_?” scolded Marceline as Finn took the paper from Betty’s hand.

“Hmm, I don’t know. I’ve never seen a language like this before” said Finn, examining the paper. “Probably is just a trick from the wizards to mess with normal people”.

Jake took the paper from Finn.

“We should take it to PB. She may help us to decipher it”.

“Bubblegum, my butt!” exclaimed Marceline furiously as she took the paper from Jake’s hands. Then she began to read it. “Holly Glob! I know this!”.

“What?” said everyone in the living room.

“I- I know this language! Centuries ago a group of magicians came to me. Someone may have told them about my knowledge in ancient dead languages. They asked me to translate something very important to break a curse” she said, baffled in face of the revelation. “But when I told them I would only take payment in red fruits they thought I was kidding them and they left. If only I had known!” she complained in a groan.

“Why would you only take red fruits as payment?” asked Jake. “Why not stripping them completely of that sweet gold they were carrying?”, laughed Jake, before being pinched by Finn.

“Well, what does it say?” asked Betty, almost in a desperate way.

“Oh, right! Let me see…”.

_“This ancient tale is told among the people from the land of fire and rocks, deep down the core of the planet. Due to their evil and hostile attitude towards anyone foreign to their kind, it has some errors relating to its original structure and, important to point out, its veracity. Still, it is the strongest lead we have found about the origins of the cursed crown of ice and madness. Hopefully, this can be the way to destroy its influence”._

_“It is told that many years ago, way more back than when the glooby water creatures inhabited the surface, the first bearers of the sacred fire created a magical beast to protect their people from the dangers of the hostile world they were living in. To create said beast they used three magical gems that would allow life and power to a piece of rock. Unfortunately, something bad happened in the magic process and the beast killed all the magicians who participated in its summoning to life. The land the fire people occupied had to be abandoned. Only one child remained there, a student from the magicians. She knew the secrets of the gems and died with them”._

_“I can’t say for sure if this is real, but I need to investigate even more to find out how those gems work, what they do. I’m sure the answer is there”._

Silence fell in the living room. Betty breathed deeply, as well as Marceline, even when she didn’t have any need to breath.

“So… what are you gonna do?” asked Finn, breaking the silence.

Betty took the paper from Marceline’s hands and looked at it. Even when she didn’t understand the language, she finally knew what it said.

“We need to find more about the gems. We need to get to the core of the planet, find the land of rock and fire and discover those secrets” Betty said, determined.

“You don’t need to go the core, we can just walk a few miles from here” said Jake.

“How is that?” asked Betty.

“Right! The Fire Kingdom!” exclaimed Marceline, “There’s a kingdom totally made of fire in this land. Maybe they are the descendants of those ancient fire people the paper talks about”.

“But aren’t they hostile? How are we going to get information?” asked Betty.

“No problem, lady! My bro here, Finn-“. Jake tried to stretch his arm to reach for Finn, but he didn’t find him close. “Finn?”.

Finn was sitting in the couch, his hands supporting his head and looking downwards. “Why the Fire Kingdom?” he whispered.

“Is he okay?” asked Betty, somewhat worried.

“Yeah, it’s just… love bizz” Marceline answered.

Jake approached to his brother.

“Hey bro! It’s okay. You don’t have to come if you don’t want” he said, putting his hands on Finn’s shoulders. “But you just told Betty you would anything that can help her to cure Simon and right now she needs specifically _your_ help. Are you going to let her down?”.

Finn lifted his face and looked at Jake.

“What is more important to you? The fire lady? Or being a hero?”.

Finn smiled at his brother.

“Being a hero. Thanks Jake”. Then he got up from the couch and pointed at Betty. “Betty, I’m at your service. For my honor and word, I will help you bring Simon back”.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” said Betty. She jumped on her carpet while Finn was carried by Marceline, bridal style, and Jake shrunk to enter into Finn’s shirt pocket.

Blessed by the moonlight, they headed towards the Fire Kingdom, hoping to find the answer to Betty’s prayers and Simon’s madness.


	3. Of Fire and Magic

Minutes after they began to fly, Finn talked to Marceline.

“Psst! Marceline”.

“Um? Yes, Finn?”.

“Can you put me into Betty’s carpet? I want to talk with her”.

“Sure thing”. Marceline floated towards Betty and deposited Finn into her carpet. Betty, aware of her new companion, greeted him.

“Oh! Hi Finn!”.

“Hi Betty. I, um… I wanted to… um, can I ask you something?”.

“Yeah, no problem. Anything for another human fellow”.

“Thanks” responded Finn with a giggle. “Did you… did you and Simon had problems at some point? Like, something really bad you fought over and almost made your relationship go poot”.

Betty stared at Finn for a few seconds, which made the boy uncomfortable and doubtful about his question. Then she looked again to the front, but she was staring at the starry night above her, drifting through difficult memories.

“Yes, we had” she simply answered. “Why the question? Does it have something to do with someone in the Fire Kingdom?” she asked, looking at him again.

“Well, yeah. The King there and I used to date. But then I… I blew it up, I made a big mistake. We broke up. Now I don’t even know how to look at her eyes” he said, afflicted, looking at the stars like Betty did before.

“We all mess up, Finn. In our work, in our relationships, in our own lives. We will always mess up and that’s something you need to remember. But that doesn’t mean it excuses us” she stressed. “Did you apologize with her?”.

“Yes, I did. And she said it was ok. But-”.

“Did you apologize to yourself?” she asked, her eyes fixed on the boy.

“I- I don’t think I did…”.

“That’s something important, Finn. If you don’t apologize to yourself, your mistakes will be always there. Haunting you, chasing you without mercy. Don’t beat yourself too much over the problems. Sometimes, the simplest way is the effective one”.

Betty put her hand over Finn’s shoulder. “You are a good person, Finn. I see it” she said with a calming voice.

Finn looked at her, then looked downwards, trying to keep the trail of what Betty just told him. He just whispered a sincere ‘thank you’ as her words started to hit him.

“There it is! The Fire Kingdom!” announced Marceline.

Betty and Finn turned their heads to look at the smoky entrance to the subterranean kingdom. It was illuminated by the burning lava beneath the ground, covered by the smoke of ever-burning rocks.

“Did you call Flambo, Jake?” asked Finn when he descended from the carpet.

“You bet I did, bro. Look! There he comes”.

Some feet ahead, a little flaming flambit was running towards the ‘Simon’s Rescue Group’.

“Hello fellows!” he greeted, standing up in two legs. “My friend Jake asked me to help you with some enchantment to help you enter our kingdom. Where is he?”.

“I’m here!” said Jake before stretching out from Finn’s pocket.

“A’ight! Let’s begin!”.

Flambo pronounced words that seemed like hissing gibberish while the movements of his hands drew runes in the air. While it was something normal for everyone else, for Betty it was something quite wonderful and she watched in awe the short ritual. The flambit punched everyone in the forehead, turning their bodies blue. Marceline stopped Flambo’s paw with her hand before he could hit her forehead.

“Pfft, please! I can go there without a shield”.

“This is not a resistance challenge, lady” replied Flambo.

“No, I mean it literally. I’m a vampire demon, fire doesn’t hurt me” she said, crossing her arms and proud of herself.

While they were walking to the entrance of the kingdom, Betty couldn’t stop looking at her blue-ish herself with a big grin and a glimmering in her eyes.

“This is awesome!” she squeaked passionately.

For Betty, just entering into the kingdom was a unique experience. While walking by the volcanic rock road leading to the castle, she admired the molten lava running at both sides of the road and the very active and relatively small volcanoes in the distance. She felt the hot breeze caressing her skin, but the sensation was immediately converted into a soft cool touch thanks to the flame shield. She was grinning with emotion and interest. She wondered if, once Simon was free from his curse and if the king of the land was as benevolent as her friends said, he would like to investigate that marvelous land with her.

At the entrance of the castle, the ‘Simon’s Rescue Group’ was stopped by two guards.

“What is your business at the castle?”.

“We come to see the king” said Finn, “She’s a friend of me, Finn the Human”.

“Ah! Finn!” exclaimed one of the guards with a list in his hand, “We have been waiting you for quite a while. Please, enter”.

Finn squinted in confusion as he and his friends passed through the door.

“She was waiting for me?” he mumbled, surprised.

“You still got her hooked, dude!” said Jake, hitting him with his elbow.

“Shh! Don’t say that!” replied Finn, embarrassed at his brother’s giggle.

The group was escorted by the guard trough the halls until reaching a big wooden door familiar to the heroic brothers.

“Hey! Remember this? Remember those candles” asked Jake, but Finn just smiled and huffed.

“Wait here, I’ll talk to her Majesty” said the guard before entering in the room. A few seconds passed before he came out again.

“Her Majesty will see-“.

“Finn!”.

Before he could even be aware, Flame Princess, wearing a nightgown and with her long hair down, was already holding him by his shoulders and looking directly into his eyes. The world froze for him and his companions watching the scene. Finn finally opened his mouth.

“Hi-“.

“Why didn’t you visit me earlier?” she yelled, shaking him by the shoulders.

“I missed you too” said Finn, somewhat sarcastically while the girl was still shaking him.

The princess stopped and hugged Finn.

“Why don’t you visit me more often?” she mumbled. “Do you hate me?”.

“What? No! Of course not!” he said abruptly. He separated the girl from him to look at her face. “I would never hate you. If something, I thought you hated me” he said, distressed.

Flame Princess smiled and let out a huff.

“I- I know, Finn. But don’t worry, everything is fine” she said, caressing his shoulder, making the human smile too.

Marceline coughed to call Finn’s attention.

“ _If nobody ends this scene now, it will end with them eating breakfast together in the morning_ ” she thought to amuse herself.

“Oh right, right!” exclaimed Finn, somewhat embarrassed. “FP, she’s my friend Marceline and she’s Betty, she’s… um… Ice King’s wife?”.

“What?” exclaimed at the same time Betty and Flame Princess.

“That lunatic has a wife?” asked the fiery ruler, in utter surprise.

“I- I’m not his wife!” said Betty, her face turning red. “Well, not yet…”.

“It’s a long story” intervened Marceline, “We need your help to bring Ice King to his past normal self. We found this and we thought you could help us with it” she said, handing the paper with the tale of the gems to the princess. “It says-“.

“I know what it says” responded Flame Princess, somewhat cold, but she was immersed in her reading.

“You know?” asked Finn.

“Yeah! It’s Guruld, the ancient language of the fire. I learnt it when I was in the lamp”, she replied, still reading.

After a few moments, she spoke again.

“Hmm, I’ve heard this story before. And I know who this apprentice is. Follow me” she said with a motion of her hand to invite them into her room.

She searched in her bookshelf. She took small old green book from it and looked through the pages.

“Valzivir was one of the greatest magicians of the fire. She lived from the reptile’s era until what humans called Middle Age. Her whole life was dedicated to find the three Guruld gems or at least replicate them” she said. “And here’s what we are looking for” she exclaimed, pointing at a paragraph in the book.

“ _I still cannot get over the fact that I haven’t found the gems. The image of that infamous ice magician still haunts me in my nightmares. My blood boils and my flames grow bigger just knowing how many unfortunate lives have been corrupted by the wrong usage of the gems in that despicable crown. Fire gems to produce ice! Aberration and nothing else!”_

_“I still remember that day, when The Guardian was created. Nobody expected it to be so feral and violent, much less against the people it was supposed to protect. Two gems had the power of life and magic. The third one was supposed to give a strong will to its bearer, but the magic corrupted it into madness. I am sure that ice magician ignored what could happen if the three gems were put together”_

_“My final hour is close. I don’t have the energy I used to have and my limbs barely respond to my will. The tremble in my left hand is uncontrollable and my skin is getting colder with each passing day. My deepest wish right now is for someone ignorant enough to find those gems and leave them abandoned in a corner, where nobody can ever find them again. Where madness cannot consume another life”_

“So, each gem has a specific function?” asked Betty.

“We could get the madness gem out of the crown” commented Marceline. “But how do we know which one is the one?”.

“I think it could be harder than that” said Finn, “We have seen Simon taking off his crown before and nothing happened. We even took all the gems out of it once and he kept being Ice King”.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you more” said Flame Princess with regret. “This is everything we got about that magician”.

“Oh, no. Don’t worry. You have been of great help. Now we know how the gems work. Hopefully we can take advantage of it” said Betty with a smile.

“Well, we got what we needed. We still have to think what we are going to do next”.

“Jake’s right. We should make a plan” added Marceline.

“I’m glad I could help you. And Finn…” the princess took the human’s hand, “Please, promise you are going to visit soon again, ok?” she spoke with appealing voice.

“Yes, FP. I will” replied Finn, looking into her eyes.

The group came out of the room, although Finn had to be softly dragged by Marceline.

“Good luck!” exclaimed the king as she waved at them from the door.

Once out of the castle, the group began to talk about their plans.

“Do you think we can neutralize the magic of the crown, take off the madness gem and make him normal again?” suggested Betty.

“I remembered!” blurted Jake, snapping his fingers. “Maybe Simon was dying the first time because of his heart”.

“What about his heart?” asked Marceline, somewhat demanding.

“Oh yeah! He made some weird magic a while ago and it made his heart to be alive by his own. He called himself Ricardio. Simon recovered it but then he lost it again and Peebs had to create a new one for him out of maracas”.

“My Simon has a toy heart?” yelled Betty, horrified.

“Bubblegum can help us to get him a real heart” commented Jake.

“Is this Bubblegum person the same that made him the maraca heart?” asked Betty.

“Yes, she is” replied Marceline. “She’s very smart. We should give it a shot and see what she can do”.

“But why didn’t she make it before putting maracas inside my boyfriend?” she complained. “I swear! I won’t be able to be in the mood ever again if he makes maraca sounds every time he moves in the bed”.

Everyone stopped in their spot. Finn blushed. Marceline did too, but she managed to draw an uncomfortable smile. Jake giggled, amused by the whole scene.

“Relax lady” he said, putting his paw on her shoulder, “Sure thing PB will help us to have your boyfriend ready by the time you need to release all that thousand years’ tension”.

“Y-yeah! Um… we- we should get going” stuttered Marceline.

“I agree with Marceline” said Finn, still suffering from second hand embarrassment. “The sooner we go, the sooner we get Simon back”. With that, he prompted the group to walk again.

“Y-yes, you are right” stated Betty, starting to realize the problems her previous sentence had brought and blushing. “Sorry for-“, she coughed, “for what I said”.

“C’mon Betty, it’s no problem” said Marceline, floating next to her and patting her back. “I miss him too”.

“Have faith” said Finn, “There’s nothing Bubblegum can’t do”.


	4. Hunting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! Sorry for taking so long to update but life has been busy. Also, I found out I cut the previous chapter, this chapter should have been part of the previous one but anyways! Hope you enjoy it!

“I can’t do that”.

“What do you mean?” replied Marceline, surprised.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t give him a new heart” said Bubblegum with the same ashamed tone of her previous words. “I don’t know how human hearts work, I can’t create a new one for him. And if we tried a transplant, the only possible donors would be Finn or Betty and I don’t think that’s something you would want”.

“Nobody touches my bro guts!” exclaimed Jake, embracing Finn.

“Jake, you are constricting me” said Finn, fighting for a catch of breath.

“Listen, I’m really sorry I couldn’t give her a proper heart back then when Ricardio came back but I was in a hurry! Both Jake and Finn were poisoned and Lady’s pregnancy was in risk. I did what I could” she excused herself.

“It’s ok. At least you gave him more time” said Betty in a thankful yet sad way.

“You know?” said Jake, yawning, “I think we should call it a night. Let’s go dream a solution, shall we?”.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect a visit so late in my laboratory. I’ll ask Peppermint Butler to prepare rooms for you. The sunrise will be in approximately three hours and by the time you arrive home… you wouldn’t have much of a good sleep”.

Peppermint Butler entered in the laboratory a few minutes later, ready to escort the guests to their rooms. Only the princess and the queen remained in the laboratory.

“You should sleep a little too” commented Marceline.

“Not now. I’m preparing a serum that…”.

“You were reading stories in the net again, you don’t fool me” she said with a grin. “Were you in the M section?”.

“That’s not true” replied Bubblegum dryly. “I was reading sci-fi”.

“Anyways, you still can help us and I want you fresh and ready”.

“Hey! What are you-?” complained Bubblegum when the vampire took her from the armpits. “Put me down!” she demanded.

“Nope. You are going to sleep right now”.

“Pff, whatever” she pouted, defeated, as they floated towards Bubblegum’s room.

* * *

The whole crew woke up minutes after the noon and gathered for breakfast in the dining room. Jake insisted in making the breakfast for everyone: bacon pancakes and eggs were the menu. Minutes later, Bubblegum appeared in the dining room, still wearing her bunny pajamas. She greeted everyone and sat with them as Jake served her a plate of pancakes.

Marceline came in after her and went directly to the fridge, finding a ketchup bottle and began to consume its color.

“I was thinking” said Betty, with a munch of pancakes in her mouth, “what if we neutralize the magic in the crown? Like when Simon brought me here”.

“But he would start to die again. I don’t think we have enough time to do something” commented Finn.

“Wait, did you say… neutralize the magic?” asked Bubblegum with an inquisitive frown, “When exactly did that happen?”.

“About four months ago. A magical entity called Bellanoche neutralized all the magic in Wizards City” answered Marceline, “Why?”.

“So that was it!” exclaimed the princess, victoriously.

“What is _it_?” asked Jake.

“The energy my sensors perceived! It was so strange the sensors couldn’t even make a graphic of it, they just sensed it. Who would think it was so powerful to neutralize archaic science!” she celebrated.

“Magic” corrected Finn.

“Yeah, whatever”.

“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Marceline, hitting the table, “I remember your sensors! You have them all across this land and you always have tried to replicate anything they perceive” she said with a stern voice. “Did you replicate Bellanoche’s energy?”.

Bubblegum was dumbfounded at Marceline’s reaction. Her eyes went down and made rapid movements as she frowned in thought. She was making connections in her mind.

“I know what you are thinking” said the princess.

“So? Did you?”.

“I- I think I did. Let’s go to my lab”.

The crew left the dining room at a quick pace. Bubblegum lead them to her laboratory and opened the door. Once inside, she opened a secret door behind a bookshelf. The princess invited everyone in and they walked through a torch-lit tunnel until reaching a circular room with several objects on tables, covered by white sheets.

“This is where I stash all the… um… preventive weapons I’ve created. They all have a specific use in very specific case. And here…” she said, pointing at a weapon in particular, “is what we need”.

She took off the sheet from the weapon. It had a tubular cannon and a square control box at the back, with the trigger in it. It also had a strap to hang it from the user’s shoulder. It was about four feet large and the cannon was three inches wide. Bubblegum took it and hung it from her right shoulder; the weapon was at her waist level.

“I made energy experiments, trying to reach level off the charts like Bellanoche’s one. I made it, but it burnt the circuits of my prototype and left it completely useless. This baby it’s a one-shot-only. After that, the box here will explode. And I have no patience to make another one”.

“Do you think it can work with Simon?” said Betty with eager voice.

“To be honest, I’m not sure. As I said, the energy produced by this is off the charts, like Bellanoche’s. But by the same principle, I don’t know if it’s even the same kind of energy”.

Betty felt her heart about to shatter. However, there was something else inside her that impeded her from it, something that made her jump at any signal of progress in her task, something that prevented her from giving up and take anything she could if that meant bringing back Simon. ‘Love’ she used to whisper.

“We can use it. It’s the best chance we have” she stated, confidently.

“But what about his heart?” asked Jake. ”Without a proper one, the man is gonna wrinkle like a raisin before we could even say raisin”.

“I’m sorry for that. But it would occupy an expert in human biology and anatomy, something I’m not” said Bubblegum.

“I think I know someone who is” said Finn, calling the attention of everyone in the room.

* * *

“Finn! Jake! What a nice surprise to see you here!”.

“It’s nice to see you too, Moe”.

A couple of robots helped Moe to get off from his bed and sat in a floating chair. He approached the human, with his two life-supporting robots at his sides. Both humans shared a hug.

“Oh, and you brought guests. Very cute guests I must say”, Moe complimented the girls.

“And I must say that your creations are impressive” said Bubblegum, courteously. “It’s obvious your wide knowledge in robotics, biology and physiology”.

“Oh, lady! You are gonna make this old man blush”.

“Sir, we need to ask you a favor”, said Betty, approaching to Moe.

“For a beautiful lady like you, I would do anything”.

“Thanks” replied Betty, smiling at the compliment. “Finn told us you were an expert in human anatomy and just these few minutes here show that’s true. My boyfriend, Simon Petrikov, he was cursed by a crown that turned him into and ice wizard and made him lost his sanity. We want to bring him back but he lacks of a functional human heart. We wondered if you could perhaps help us with that problem. I would be deeply thankful if you could help me to bring my Simon back” she said, holding Moe’s hands.

Moe stared at her begging face. He knew that stare of desperation and hope. He sighed and ran his hand across his face.

“Of course I would help you. But my resources are limited. I could certainly give him a new heart but the point is that there’s no new heart. My heart is too old to be transplanted and I don’t think you or Finn would do it. We could certainly create an artificial heart, but that would take too much time. I’m sorry” he said with sorrow.

“And if we use a gem?” asked Marceline, before everyone lost the good mood. “One of the gems is the gem that gives life. We could use it as an artificial heart” she stressed.

“Yes, you are right!” exclaimed Betty with joy. “It’s obvious those gems have a lot of power. They have lasted for millennia, keeping the crown bearers alive for many years. You even opened an interdimensional portal with them by what you told me” she said, pointing at Finn and Jake.

“Like with that superhero! The one with a power source in his chest!” said Marceline.

“Moe and I could create the energy support device for his chest” added Bubblegum.

“If the gems you are talking about are as powerful as you say, yes! We can transform its energy into life support energy and make it work as a heart” said Moe.

Betty felt her insides being filled with a warm sensation of happiness. Everything was falling into place. People were helping her and things were going smoothly towards her objective. The wait for the touch of Simon’s skin was getting shorter and shorter. Her hands were trembling and her head was light. She was at the edge of fainting from excitement.

“Then it’s settled! We have everything we need to bring Simon back” cheered Finn.

“Not everything yet” corrected Betty. “We still need the most important element. We gotta kidnap the kidnapper”, she said, rubbing her hands.


	5. Together Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry that you waited so long, life was very busy with work in pandemic but I'm back!!! Hope you enjoy the remaining chapters of this story!! And thank you so much for the support so far!!

The skating park was one of the most visited places by couples in the city. It was a place where love could be witnessed wherever you looked at, except for the occasional fight between lovers that in most of the cases ended in the ice cream stand with reconciliation. The music was always perfect there. From the most energetic lyrics to the cheesiest rhythms which made the couples get closer and dance slowly, even in their skates.

Simon and Betty were enjoying a beautiful evening after months of hard work and investigation that forced them to suspend several dates and hang outs. Their most recent book, _Mystic Rituals_ , was approved and soon to be published; it was the gem in their crown. Such an event had to be celebrated and no better way to do it than going to the place in which their very first date took place. And Simon had plans to make it the most special evening ever.

The day was dying. The sun was ready to took its nap, painting the sky with the colors of its yawns. The stars began to arrive, shimmering between the clouds heading west. Simon and Betty were skating, just going around the skating circle, holding hands. In a brave movement, Simon turned to take both of Betty’s hands. Then, he tried to spin with her. It worked for a few seconds, prompting a laugh and a sensation of dizziness in them. But the antiquarian wasn’t as good as his girlfriend with the wheels and ended up tripping and losing balance. Betty caught him just in time to stop him from hitting the floor with his butt. He was bent over and Betty was holding him by the neck and the waist.

They looked at each other’s eyes, deeply.

“Pfff, stop looking at me like that!” blurted Betty, giggling.

“I can’t help it. You are just too cute” replied Simon in a melodramatic way.

“Stop it!” she said, hitting his arm playfully after helping him to get straight again.

“But it’s true! You are just too wonderful”.

“You are cheesier than normal today, Simon. What are you trying to get from me?” she asked with her arms folded and a devious smile.

“Something very important, in fact”. He then looked at the DJ boot. “Jerry! Music, please”.

Jerry nodded and put the song Simon specially requested for that moment. The song began to sound in the speakers, making Betty look at them and drop her folded arms.

_It’s a beautiful night,  
we’re looking for something dumb to do.  
Hey baby,  
I think I wanna marry you_

When Betty looked back at Simon, he was not at her face level anymore. He was kneeling just in front of her. He looked for something in the inner pocket of his jacket. Her heart was beating fast, the blood was rushing to her head, making her blush and feel light headed. She knew what was going to happen. She covered her mouth, dumbfounded; her fingers were trembling and her eyes watering.

Finally, Simon took a small green box out of his jacket. It wasn’t easy for him either. His heart seemed to beat so fast that it would jump from his chest to Betty’s arms at any moment. His body was paralyzed, acting only because a powerful feeling was keeping him conscious. His greatest fear was that his voice broke and he couldn’t be able to perform the most important speech of his life.

“Betty…” he said, opening the box to reveal a golden ring with a transparent jewel on it. “Would you marry me?”.

Betty fell on her knees, crying. She wanted to say something but her mind had been replaced by her heart and it was a total mess; the only thing that left her mouth was blabbering. She looked at Simon, his eyes shining like the stars above. She just nodded, unable to pronounce any word. Simon hugged her tightly as his eyes were covered in tears. The people around, witnesses of the scene, clapped and cheered the couple.

“Together…” whispered Betty in his ear.

“… forever” replied Simon in the same way.

* * *

He woke up.

His sleep schedule had been irregular in the last days, which messed up his kidnappings; he wondered if anyone would have noticed by then his lack of activity. He looked around his room, nothing different. He then took off his blankets, revealing something that he never expected to see again.

“Broken leg again?” he yelled in annoyance. “Gunter, come here!”.

Immediately, a penguin appeared in the door. “Wenk”.

“Help daddy with his leg, please”.

The penguin walked to the bed and jumped on it. Gunter took the leg of the Ice King and quickly turned into the opposite direction in which it was. He did it if only because it was a way to induce pain in the old wizard.

“Aaawoohoo!” screamed the Ice King. “Thanks Gunter! Let’s give you salmon”.

“Wenk”.

“Yeah, and meanwhile let me tell you about my dream” said Ice King as he lifted Gunter from the bed and took him into his arms. “I dreamt I had a girlfriend! How amazing is that?” he exclaimed with enthusiasm.

“Wenk”.

“Yeah, she was a babe! And her skin was very soft. But she was wearing glasses, probably a nerd” he complained.

“Wenk”.

“I know not all of them are bad, Gunter. Especially her, I know she is radical, as my friend Finn says. You know who I’m talking about?” said Ice King opening the fridge.

“Wenk”.

“Yeah, Princess Bubblegum! You guessed! Now let’s give you that… oh, there’s no salmon. Well, sorry Gunter, it will be another time” said Ice King as he left the kitchen. The penguin stood inside the opened fridge for a few seconds before starting to break all the bottles inside.

The icy wizard proceeded to sit in his throne and check his computer.

“No messages, no requests, no nothing… sure people spend a lot of time offline” he whispered.

Suddenly, a notification appeared in his screen, announced by a tingling sound. It was a new experience for the king, so new that he got scared by the sound and made him jump in his sit. When he recovered, he looked at the pop-up in his screen. He couldn’t believe what he was reading.

“Am… am I still dreaming?” he expressed, baffled. He had a message from Princess Bubblegum herself. Still skeptical, he dragged his mouse to the ‘open message’ option.

* * *

Moe and Bubblegum worked for five days straight creating a life support device that would transform the energy in the gem into some kind of new heart for Simon and that could fit in his chest without being too intrusive. The day they finally announced the end of the work, everyone gathered in Moe’s laboratory.

“Well, it’s done. We used references from anatomy books I read while doing this so the device shouldn’t be a problem for him” said Bubblegum.

“The surgery is gonna take a while, but it should be relatively easy” added Moe.

“Now we just have to bring Simon here, somehow” said Betty.

“What if we make a party?” suggested Jake.

“He wouldn’t believe anyone invited him to a party” said Marceline.

“Invite who?” asked Jake, confused.

“Who? Simon! Ice King!” exclaimed Marceline.

“Why would we invite him to a party? He would crush it”.

“Jake, did you suggest the party as a plan to bring Ice King here or did you just blurt out something you wanted to do?” asked Bubblegum.

“Oh… uhm… the second option?”.

“What if we set up a trap?” suggested Finn.

“What kind of trap?” asked Betty.

“In his weak spot. Let’s make him believe a princess wants to marry him”

“That’s a great idea, Finn” said Bubblegum. “But as with the party, how would he believe it? We would need to get access to a princess’s phone or mail and send it from there. Where are we going to find one as soon as possible, who Ice King’s is obsessed with and who’s willing to-?”.

The princess stopped when she saw all the people around looking at her.

“Oh, no! No! No! No! No! You all are crazy! You all will burn in hell before I-“.

“C’mon Bonnie, it’s not so bad” said Marceline with a teasing voice.

“Shut up, Marceline!”.

“I think Marceline’s right” said Finn. “Besides, if all this works, you won’t have to worry anymore about him”.

Marceline floated next to Bubblegum and embraced her with one arm.

“Bonnie, look at that woman” she said, pointing at Betty. “She left everything she had behind. She jumped into a portal that would transport her a thousand years into the future to an unknown land just to be with the person she loves”.

Betty was standing still, caressing her hands, looking at Bubblegum and Marceline, eager for a response from the princess. She was quiet, she didn’t want to say anything and she didn’t know what to say. If she said anything, it would be like forcing Bubblegum just to do something only for Betty’s own good. And she wasn’t like that; it had to come from Bubblegum herself. But if she refused, what was going to happen? The fear inside her was a soft laugh ready to mock her in the instant of failure.

Bubblegum sighed. She remained silent for a couple of seconds in which she stared directly at Betty. She took of her phone.

“Someone else write it because I can’t. And do it fast” she said, stoically.

“Ok, I’ll do it” said Marceline, taking the phone from her hand.

“Wait, no! Whoever you want but Marceline! Guys!” she complained at Finn and Jake.

“Sorry, she called it first” said Finn, shrugging.

“And we respect that” added Jake.

Bubblegum groaned.

“What are you writing, Marceline?” she demanded to know from the floating vampire, several feet out of her reach.

“You’ll know” she said giggling as she wrote.

Suddenly, Bubblegum felt the embrace of Betty.

“Thank you! Thank you!” she expressed with trembling voice. “I know you can’t stand Simon as he is now but I promise-“.

“Easy! There’s nothing you should be grateful with me” she said with a reassuring voice, breaking the hug. “In the contrary, I should thank you for freeing us from him… the Ice King, I mean” she said, giggling nervously.

“You’ll like him when he’s back, I promise” said Betty.

“This is wonderful” said Marceline from above, amused.

“Marceline!” complained Bubblegum.

* * *

“ _Dear Ice King. I’ve been thinking it too much and I’ve decided to give you a chance to date me. My kingdom needs a king that can rule over my people and there’s no other as wonderful and handsome as you. You are simply the best, the #1. I need you, Ice King. I need you to feel what love is, to free me from my cage of solitude. Please, come and let me be by your side forever. Let’s make out while the sun goes down and wake up together in the sunrise. Meet me at the Bad Lands, in the MO factory to consummate our commitment. Your never-ending lover, Princess B. Bubblegum”._

The Ice King couldn’t believe his wizard eyes. The princess herself had sent the message, it wasn’t a hoax.

“Yahoo!” he celebrated. He jumped from his throne and danced around victoriously (if you can call a dance something that consists only in jumping in one of your feet at a time and shake your arms around like noodles).

“She’s gonna date me! She’s gonna date me!” he sang.

He flew around the room, celebrating his apparent victory. He flew out the window towards the Bad Lands, flapping his beard enthusiastically. Within minutes, he reached the MO factory.

“Ugh, this place looks horrible” he commented, “But every place is pretty when the love of your life is waiting inside” he said, laughing.

He entered into the factory, finding a pink paper in the wall that said “Meet me in the deepest room of the factory. P.B”.

“And how am I gonna get there? This place is huge!” he complained.

“Sir, excuse me, sir?”.

“Eh? Who’s that?”.

“Here, in front of you” said the small square robot, “I’m DMO, the receptionist. Please, aboard the tram. They are waiting you inside”.

“Oh, sweet! A personal transport!” said Ice King as he boarded the tram.

“Put yourself comfortable. We’ll reach the place in a few minutes” announced DMO as the tram began to move. “Meanwhile, let me tell you the story of this factory. Centuries ago, when the world was in-“.

“Hey, can you not talk? I’m trying to figure out the words I’m gonna say to my lover” requested the Ice King while extending his legs, almost hitting DMO with them.

“They don’t pay me enough to transport this sack of old bones” muttered the robot.

After minutes in which the tram traveled through all the levels of the factory, they finally reached the deepest one. Ice King descended from the tram, finding an empty dark floor with only pillars around. He was insecure of the situation, confused by the place of reunion. But soon his doubts were melted away when the light of a candle appeared from the depths of the dark floor. As the light was getting closer, he could draw out who was bringing it.

“My precious Bubblegum!” he exclaimed.

Bubblegum stopped still several feet away from him.

“Follow me” she said with a blank expression.

Ice King went behind her, flying, but he never reached her. She leaded him through several halls and turns until they got in a small dark room with two doors. There, Bubblegum was just seven feet away from him, allowing him to see her completely.

“The time has come, Ice King. Are you ready?” she asked with a serious tone.

“I’ve been ready my whole life, baby!”.

The metallic doors closed heavily behind them, trapping them inside.

“Well then” said Bubblegum before blowing the candle she had in her hand. The room was totally dark now.

“Oh, I get it! We’re playing hide and seek” he said amused, “I’m gonna find you, my sweet piece of gum”.

Suddenly, the room was illuminated in every corner by high power lamps. Ice King was blinded for a few seconds due to the sudden illumination.

“Wha-? What is this?”.

He looked behind him. Someone was pointing a gun at him, but he couldn’t figure out whom that person was, he could only see a blue and pink blot.

“Oh! Hey! I have no beef with you, bro!” he said, scared by the cannon of the gun pointing at him.

“Your days have ended, Ice King” said the blot with a feminine voice. “I want Simon back”.

“Who’s Simon? I don’t know any Simon! Please, don’t kill me!” he begged.

“I’m not killing you. I’m bringing you back to life” she said. “ _Please, work_ ”, she thought before pulling the trigger.

Waves of energy came out of the weapon, making Betty trip and almost fall on the ground. Those waves reached the Ice King, making him arch his back. Betty never put her finger off the trigger, not until watching a change in the ice wizard. After a couple of seconds it happened: his hair got shorter and turned brown, his skin also turned into a darkest color and his nose shrunk. Betty stopped the fire and threw the gun away as Simon fell in the ground. She ran at him and took him in her arms, making him face her. She grinned upon seeing the face of her boyfriend.

“Be- Betty?” he muttered, weakly.

“Hi again, dum dum” she said with tears in her eyes.

“Betty, I feel like… there’s not much time” he said, panting, struggling. “I need to tell you…”.

“Say it later. We are going to give you time”.

Simon fainted in her arms.

Immediately, Finn and Jake entered in the room. Finn took Simon from Betty’s arms and laid him onto Jake, turned into a bed. The human boy grabbed the crown from the ground. They rapidly stepped out of the room, with Betty running behind them. For her, everything was happening in slow motion; she felt like flying, as if every step she gave wasn’t on the floor, but rather as if she was floating in the air. Her breath was heavy; the oxygen in the room didn’t seem enough for her. Her chest was now her heart’s drum set.

Finn and Jake reached the conditioned surgery room in Moe’s laboratory. Marceline took Simon from Jake and put him in the surgery plank and returned for the crown. Betty was about to enter but was stopped by Bubblegum. The princess said something but Betty didn’t hear anything, only a buzz. Her total attention was in the man in the bed. Marceline came back and pushed Betty lightly, out of the room. Bubblegum closed the door as Betty watched Moe approaching the bed to pull a lever.

Inside, the most important part of the procedure was taking place.

“So, princess” began Moe, “Which gem are we going to use?”.

Bubblegum stared at the crown, thoughtfully. But there was not time, the man was dying; she did something that she hadn’t done in centuries: trusting her guts.

“The one in the center”.

* * *

Six hours passed.

Betty still couldn’t believe it. It all felt like a dream. Suddenly, everything in the last months was crumbling down; she was suddenly aware of everything that had happened, of everyone she had known, the things she had seen. It felt so strange to look back and think of the weird thing that the land of Ooo was and how she didn’t care at the beginning. It all was because of a desire, the deepest wish in her heart, which made her able to ignore all the extraordinary things that, in other times, she had considered non-sense and would easily drive her into an existential crisis. Sure, they used to investigate about those kinds of things, it was their work. But who would ever guessed they both would actually be involved in such an experience?

His skin was as warm as she remembered. Since she was allowed to enter in his room, she never let go of his hand. Everyone entered in the room to see him, recovering. Betty was the only one who stayed there the whole time. Watching him sleeping was relaxing for her. For two hours she did nothing but stare at him.

“Simon…” she whispered, her eyes watering as she leaned over his forehead, “Finally, together…”.

“… forever” he muttered.


	6. Calm

“Desolation it’s all I remember. When I began to use the crown, I just saw visions of a frozen land with a never-ending storm; the snow in it was so fast that it cut your skin. But I didn’t feel anything, just a freezing caress in my arms. Whenever the crown stopped its influence over me, those visions seemed mere dreams to me, and when the crown had the power over me, the real life was the dream”.

Everybody was attentive of Simon’s story, who was sitting in a wheelchair. He had already been transported to the Candy Kingdom. Nobody could help but feel sympathy with him, especially Marceline, with her hands clutching her chest. Betty, at Simon’s side and holding his hand, felt a needle burying in her heart with every word her boyfriend pronounced about his curse, but at least he was now free.

“I couldn’t anymore and I… I gave up” he sighed. “I wanted to feel good again, I wanted to stop doubting about what was real or what not, I wanted something to hold at, I wanted…” he said with rushing words. He sighed again remembering his defeat and continued with grim voice. “I wanted to forget. And the crown opened me a door; it gave me an option and I took it. Wherever was the place I was at, it felt like nothing. There was no one, there was nothing and time was something inexistent. I have faint memories of desperation, screaming your name at things that weren’t there” said Simon as he tightened his grasp in Betty’s hand.

“If you told me I was cursed for one thousand years, I wouldn’t be able to tell you if you are exaggerating or if you are being too optimistic” he said with a faint laugh. He caressed Betty’s arm and she leaned in to kiss his forehead. “I’m sorry Betty. You have gone to hell and back because of me. If I had known what that crown would do…”.

“Don’t beat yourself, Simon” she responded with tears of happiness. “I would do anything in the world for you. You bring so much light into my world” she said before kissing his lips.

“Marceline, I’m so sorry with you too. I abandoned you, but I had to do it. I could have harmed you in my trances”.

“It’s okay, Simon” said Marceline, floating at him and whipping the tears from her eyes. “You were there for me when I needed you the most. You taught me well, you taught me to be a good person. I’m glad you are back, I’m glad you can enjoy your life at last” she expressed, hugging the man.

“Oh man, this is so… so…” said Jake, sobbing and ultimately gripping Finn’s shirt and sobbing in it.

“Simon, we are very sorry for the things we did to you while you were Ice King” said Finn, truly ashamed. “But you were a jerk and we couldn’t let you go your way”.

“I understand Finn. I still have… marks… but is way better than cut away the freedom of all those princesses. By the way, your highness Bubblegum, I’m truly and very sorry for all the… things I did” Simon apologized, cringing just at the blurry (but not enough) memories of his state as the ice wizard.

“It’s not a problem now. And please, call me just Princess or Bubblegum. Even for me ‘highness’ is a heavy word” said the sugary princess with a friendly tone.

“I have to ask, what happened to the Ice Kingdom and all the creatures living in it? If the magic of the crown was neutralized, it sure will melt”.

“We put a freezing mechanism underground. It will keep the kingdom stable” replied Marceline.

“And… the crown? Where is it?” asked Simon with worry.

“Don’t overthink it, Simon” replied Betty. “You are back now. The crown is safe. There’s no need to worry anymore” she said, caressing his face.

“The crown has been put where it cannot longer affect anyone ever” added Bubblegum, “Your nightmare has finally ended”.

“You are right. I can finally be at peace now” said Simon, smiling. He tried to get up and kiss Betty but the pain in his chest stopped him and made him frown.

“Don’t move too much yet. You have yet to get accustomed to the device in your chest” said Moe, in a floating chair. “It might be little, but is something new and strange to your body”.

The mentioned device was a metallic circle with the gem at its center, covered only by a plastic screen.

“He’s right, darling. For now, let it be me the one who starts the kisses” said Betty, leaning in and kissing Simon in the lips.

“You know, I’m a little hungry” said Simon.

“Yeah, let’s get you something to eat” said Betty, pulling Simon’s chair as everyone went behind them towards the kitchen.

* * *

Simon indulged himself in all the meals that day. His voracity devouring whatever food was presented before him astonished those who were there to witness it. The only one unaffected by such a view was Jake, who in fact sat next to Simon the whole time, eating like him. They even fought for the last piece of chicken once.

Betty eyes moved frantically, watching the food passing from the plate to her boyfriend’s mouth in matter of seconds.

“He’s getting as gross as Jake” commented Finn.

“Sure he doesn’t have any Ice King’s leftovers in him?” asked Bubblegum.

“You are going to get a constipation, Simon” said Betty quietly, trying to both save Simon from that and to stop the scene that was turning rather creepy and scary.

“I know honey but...” Simon bit a piece of bread, “I _sefiously_ feel like I _hafent eaden anyfing_ in ages!” he exclaimed content, with bread in his mouth.

After a few minutes, Simon finally reclined in the back of his chair, full and unable to keep eating more. “I think this would be enough for a couple of days. It’s a blessing I’m still wearing this robe instead of pants and a belt” he said before burping. “I feel so heavy. I may be starting to regret this”.

“Walking will make you feel better. And it also will help you with the device” said Moe.

“Yeah, just give me a couple of minutes” he huffed. “Lord, I exaggerated a bit with the food” he said giggling.

When they came out of the dining room, it was already late. The sun was behind the horizon and three quarters of the sky were black. The stars began to shimmer high above as Betty and Simon wandered through the gardens of the candy castle. Marceline, Finn and Jake had left minutes before while Bubblegum went up to her room after showing the human couple where they could spend the night. Moe left immediately after the dinner ended; he said Simon was in good hands with Betty by his side.

She told him about some of her adventures looking for the way to save him from his curse. She told her about how she followed and investigated the ways of several wizards around Ooo, how she almost ended falling in a trap settled by some jerk called Magic Man and that time she had to fight giant for the food she had just bought. Simon felt a rush of adrenaline with every detailed scene of danger his girlfriend described to him.

“Betty, I- I don’t really know what to say. You fought monsters, wizards and any other incredible kind of creatures… just to be with me again?” he asked, astonished.

“And I would do it again”.

“Why?”. His frown was full of doubt. Maybe it was the post-operatory weakness, but his brain couldn’t understand why she would endanger her life at such limits.

She folded her arms around his neck and kissed him, deeply, long. Simon responded accordingly and embraced her by the waist, pulling her closer to him. The kiss broke and they looked directly at each other’s eyes. They were blushing and recovering breath from the kiss.

“Because your lips are the best thing I’ve ever tasted. Because I love you” Betty said.

Simon laughed. He tightened his grip around Betty’s waist, lifted her in the air and twirled around. Their laughs filled the garden for a few seconds, even after they stopped.

“I see the device doesn’t bother you that much anymore”.

“No, in fact it hurt a lot” said Simon before clinching.

“C’mon, let’s go the bed. It has been a long day” she said, carrying him to help him get in the wheelchair.

“How can I ever pay you for this, Betty? I don’t even know if I’m worth of you”.

Betty crouched before him, took his face between her hands and kissed his forehead.

“You are the best person I’ve ever met, Simon. You make me laugh and you make me cry too, but in the good way. You are the one who understands me better than anyone. You are the one who makes me feel all giddy and light headed whenever I see your face” she said with a grin, “I cannot live without you, Simon. Never say you are not worth of me”.

Simon gripped Betty’s shaking hands.

“You make me feel special, Betty. You bring so much joy to my life that I’m unable to describe it. You risked your life to bring me back from a millennial curse. I love you Betty. I love you beyond my old and my new heart can bear” he said, leaning in and bumping their foreheads.

They cried together, but those were tears of love. Tears that had waited one thousand years to be released. They sobbed, and each sob was like another ‘I love you’. Betty got up and wiped away her tears, before pulling Simon’s chair to the room. Once in the bed, they caressed each other’s face.

“You didn’t say how could I pay you, though” said Simon.

Betty caressed his face and ran her fingers through his hair. Her gaze was full of love and tenderness. A warm sensation in her eyes as prelude for the most joyful tears of her life.

“Never leave me” she replied.

“I won’t” he said.

* * *

Marceline didn’t care at all. She let her emotions run wild and free. What if she was the queen of the ever feared vampires? What if she was the heir of the most horrific place in the multiverse, the Nightosphere? She had just recovered the most important person in her life, the one who protected her and guide her in the dark and the wreckage. Centuries of avoiding him were not enough to make her forget. As Betty, she saved traces of hope in her heart, dreams of seeing Simon again.

With Finn and Jake at her side, it didn’t matter to show what others would mockingly call weakness. Only after her sobs left her speak more than four words, the heroic duo decided it was time to go home.

“Yeah, I’m gonna be ok. Better than ever” she replied to Finn, laughing, after he asked for the third time before leaving her house.

She floated to the kitchen and took a night time snack, a half-full bowl of strawberries. She then headed to her room. After a quick bath, she wore her usual pajamas: baggy sport pants and an old dark shirt. She lied on the bed just to hover over it almost immediately. Smiling, she wondered if she could finally have dreams of Simon without them turning into a bitter nightmare.

She dreamed peacefully. Until she woke up, trembling in the middle of the night. It was cold, colder than usual. It was almost as if the wind whispered on her skin. She stopped hovering and preferred to get in bed and cover herself with the blankets. She wondered why the sudden cold feeling, given that she was a vampire and cold was oddly felt by her. Was it a warning? Maybe she was overthinking. Maybe she was still afraid of waking up to realize everything was a dream.

“No. It wasn’t a dream” she said to herself and then yawned. “I can’t be this happy, not even in dreams” she reassured to herself.

She closed her eyes again. The next day would be a great day. There was still some soon-proof potion in the bottle, enough for another day. She would hang out with Simon again. She would feel happy again.

* * *

The place was cold and humid, but not in the way it liked it. The sound of the water drops falling from the rocky roof filled the room. It used to be a place reserved only for the most dangerous or the utterly annoying enemies of Princess Bubblegum and the Candy Kingdom.

The dark and eerie place was now the house of one of the most despicable and ancient artifacts in the world. Behind impenetrable bars of energy, the Crown was supposed to spend the eternity in the deepest level of the world, several miles underground. But eternity meant nothing to that thing; only one thing mattered: a bearer. The previous one was forcefully rapt and that was exactly the same way it would claim him back.

The Crown began to tremble, as the two remaining gems at its sides glowed.


	7. Storm

The next weeks after Simon’s recovery were spent showing him the marvelous land of Ooo, meeting their most important people and, by Simon’s own request, apologizing with every single princess he had ever kidnapped while being the Ice King. Those days were also used to recover the long lost time with Betty and Marceline. The vampire queen told him about her travels and adventures in the last thousand years (leaving some details undisclosed to not worry Simon).

With Betty, the relationship was slowly building up again. Simon was still worried about his unconscious actions and felt guilty, but the red haired woman was always there to assure him there was nothing to fear, covering him in warm affection. It wasn’t long until their nights could be again almost endless and full of pure love.

Princess Bubblegum offered her old shack in the Grasslands to the human couple, something they received gratefully. However, the house needed some repairs before being acceptably inhabitable and so the couple stayed by almost a whole month in the castle before moving out. Marceline, Finn and Jake offered their help repairing the shack, including the construction of a second floor.

Finally, the day for Simon and Betty to occupy their new home had arrived. They were escorted by Marceline to the shack in the morning, finding their new friends in the front yard ready to receive them with a breakfast picnic.

“Nice outfit, Simon” complimented Bubblegum to his white long-sleeve shirt, knitted blue vest and black pants.

“Thanks. I thought I would never like to see blue and white on me at the same time again but I was definitely wrong. And Betty made a great work with this vest. Look at it!” he cheered.

“I made it especially for you. I’ve always liked how your skin looks with blue clothes” said Betty, embracing him by the arm. She was wearing a pink tank top, a green sweatshirt, blue jeans and a pink ribbon in her short hair.

The breakfast went smoothly. Sandwiches, fruits, juices and pies were devoured and enjoyed. Finn made jokes that made everyone laugh and the furtive kisses between Betty and Simon prompted an internal squeak in the vampire queen. Suddenly, Simon trembled violently.

“What happened?” asked Betty with worry, noticing that.

“I don’t know. I felt something weird” said Simon with a confused frown. “It was like a… chill breeze”

Betty giggled.

“It’s not even noon and we are in an open space, Simon. Chill breezes are common here. I think you still have some lingering fear of the cold”.

“Yeah, that must be it” said Simon with a forced smile, but something in him didn’t feel completely right.

“Um… Peebs, what is that?” asked Finn, pointing at the sky at the backs of Simon and Betty. In what seemed a few miles away, a dark cluster of clouds expanded up high, accompanied by terrifying lightning.

“I think it’s over the Candy Kingdom, Bonnie” commented Marceline, “And it doesn’t look good”.

“We need to go now” said Princess Bubblegum, “I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly, Betty and Simon, but we need to go check. Enjoy your house, and welcome to Ooo. Please, visit us whenever you want” said the princess with courtesy.

“Thanks to you, Princess” said Simon.

“Yes, without you we wouldn’t even be here. You helped us a lot” added Betty.

“Aw, don’t mention it. You are important to Marceline so you are important to me. And getting rid of Ice King was the motivation I needed” she joked.

“Bubs, are we going?” asked Jake, horse-size, with Finn riding on him already.

“Yeah, let’s go. Marceline, won’t you come?”.

“I will hang with these two a little more. I’m gonna show them the sick secrets I added to this shack”.

“Ok. See you later, Marcy” said Finn as Jake grew in size and ran towards the Candy Kingdom with the human and Princess Bubblegum riding him.

“It’s time to show you this place” said Marceline hovering over the couple and standing in the front porch. “Do you see that sign in the portico? It will keep green goblins away, they are the worst. They steal your forks and spoons to bury them in your backyard. Now let’s go inside, let me show you your new love nest” said Marceline with a smirk as she opened the door, prompting embarrassed giggles from Simon and Betty.

* * *

As the candy trio approached the kingdom, they could feel the wind accelerating and the surrounding temperature descend. Up in the sky, a massive gray cloud hovered menacingly over the Candy Kingdom. Chaos had taken over the place, the candy citizens running aimlessly in terror and confusion.

Bubblegum jumped off from Jake and approached Peppermint Butler, who was near the place.

“What is happening here?” she demanded to know, starting to get worried about the situation.

“I don’t know Princess. This cloud suddenly appeared and started to freeze us deep to the core of our bones” said the butler.

“Freeze?” asked Bubblegum, frowning.

Just then she noticed that most of the candy citizens began to wear winter clothes, such as sweaters, gloves and scarfs. She looked back up to the cloud, growing with every passing second. At the next second, lightning lit the cloud until one of them came down and hit the ground. A scream could be heard. It didn’t strike far and so the princess and everyone near there covered their eyes. When they looked again, they could see a terrified candy citizen trapped in ice.

Being the smartest person in there, Bubblegum connected the dots in her mind and the outcome made her gasp.

“No! It can’t be!” she yelled as she ran to the castle, followed by Finn and Jake whom asked her to wait. She reached the backyard of her castle, finding a wide and deep crater in the gardens, exactly under the center of the twirling cloud.

“Is that the crown?” yelled Finn, pointing at the shinning object at the eye of the storm.

“Yes. It is” said Bubblegum, baffled.

“How can that be? Didn’t you say it could never be active again?”

“I- I don’t know, Jake”

“You said that even if it became active again, it couldn’t escape from the place you put it i-“.

“I know what I said, Finn!” yelled Bubblegum, almost growling and scaring the human.

“And what does it want? Revenge?” asked Jake.

As Jake finished his sentence, the cloud began moving towards the Grasslands, in the direction the candy trio had come from.

“That’s exactly what it wants” said Bubblegum with ominous voice.

* * *

“Now, the most important place in the house: your bedroom”.

Marceline opened the door, revealing a wide woody room. A king size bed in the center with white sheets made out of the softest cotton from the sheep in the Iron Mountains; each one of the bedside tables had a lamp of its own. There was a closet at the right side of the bedroom and, at the left side, a window with white curtains that left the light of the sunrise enter into the room.

Both Betty and Simon gasped as they stepped into the room. Betty particularly admired the small Victorian chandelier in the center of the roof while Simon examined with curiosity the woodcuts in the head of the bed.

“You can’t see but I casted a protective circle against dream demons in the floor. It was made with blood of baby burkers”.

“Oh gosh!” exclaimed Betty, “I don’t even know what a burker is but… babies?” she asked in terror.

“What? Oh no! Not real babies. They just call them that way because of how small they are. Don’t sweat it” said Marceline nonchalantly.

“Oh, that’s a relief” said Betty in a huff.

“Or at least that’s what that wizard told me” muttered the vampire. “Anyways, do you like the place?”.

“Marceline, this is beyond fantastic!” said Simon. “I don’t know how we could ever pay you for this”.

“ _Give me your first-born child to begin my army of dark creatures of the night_ ” she growled.

Betty and Simon, accustomed by then to her sense of humor, laughed and understood the joke as a sign that they didn’t need to do anything in exchange.

“Thank you very much, Marceline. We couldn’t ever be here if it wasn’t for you” said Betty, hugging her.

“My pleasure. I gotta say too that, if it wasn’t for you, I couldn’t ever see Simon again and thank him for everything he did for me”.

“And I’m grateful with both of you, and Princess Bubblegum and Finn and Jake, for giving me back my life. I love both of you”.

“Show her then” said Marceline pushing Betty towards Simon and hovering away.

The humans embraced each other by the waists and touched foreheads, gazing at each other’s eyes and grinning. Marceline, as a teenager shipper in online forums, watched the scene with a smirk and silently encouraged the couple to kiss. They leant in, but just when their lips touched, Simon backed up. Betty frowned in confusion as she saw Simon also frown, but with an almost terrified look.

“What is wrong, sweetie?” she asked.

“It… it got colder” he whispered.

“It’s normal Simon, you don’t have to…”.

“And darker”.

Just then, Marceline and Betty realized that the room was no longer lit by the sun outside and, when they looked at the window, they could see the cloudy sky outside. Betty felt Simon trembling in her arms and his eyes tearing. She knew he was at the edge of a panic attack.

“Simon, listen to me. It’s ok, it’s gonna happen sometimes, it’s just a storm”.

“It’s not just a storm” he said with shaking lips and looking at the window, watching the trees in the distance being moved by strong winds.

“Simon, look at me!” whispered Betty, getting the brunet’s attention. “I’m with you, I will protect you. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a storm or the end of the world, I’m going to be with you and everything is going to be fine, you hear me?” she said with a serious gaze directed to his eyes.

“Yes. I do” said Simon.

“What is going to happen, Simon?”.

“Everything is going to be fi-“.

The roof was ripped out of the house. A strong wind came in and threw everyone to the floor. It was so cold that the three of them felt their bodies freezing in the instant and were unable to move any muscle. With whatever strength Marceline and Betty still had, they opened their eyes to see up at the sky and watch a massive black cloud hovering over them, twisting and shooting lightning in every direction. Then, they saw Simon appearing from under a pile of snow, struggling to get on his feet. As soon as he managed to stand firmly, a lightning hit him.

“Simon!” screamed Betty and Marceline in horror.

When their eyes recovered from the sudden flash, their jaws dropped and their hearts stopped at the sight of Simon being frozen in ice. Betty looked up again at the cloud and, at its center, she could see The Crown. The cursed object sent a ray of energy that surrounded the frozen Simon and lifted him up, putting him by its side. The cloud moved to the Ice Kingdom, taking Simon with it.

The horror, the shock and the cold paralyzed Betty. As the cloud moved away, she felt the streams coming from her eyes getting warmer with the light of the sun in her face. Marceline approached her and shook her, trying to get a response from her. Betty’s head was spinning and all strength inside her was running away. She felt dizzy and nauseous and, before she could throw up, she fell unconscious.

“Glob, no! This can’t be happening!” yelled Marceline, lifting Betty from the ground. She took Betty downstairs to lay her in a couch since the wind from the Crown’s cloud destroyed the bed.

Marceline laid Betty down in a couch in the living room and began to walk around, muttering things about Simon, The Crown, Betty and cursing demons and Bubblegum for the unsuccessful gun she created. Less than two minutes after, the candy trio arrived to the shack.

“Is everyone ok?” asked Finn entering into the house, sword in hand.

“Does it seem we are ok, Finn?” exclaimed Marceline in annoyance, pointing at Betty.

“Where is Simon?” asked Bubblegum.

“The Crown took him! You said it wouldn’t come back!” exclaimed Marceline pointing at the princess. “You and your machines that can’t do anything against magic. Your dumb science that always ends up blizzing it all up!” she yelled, her eyes watering.

“I- I know…” said Bubblegum, defeat in her voice. She lowered her head and avoided eye contact with the girl in front of her. “I suppose I can’t deal with some things, things that I don’t understand. I apologize, Marceline”.

“An apologize is not gonna bring Simon back” said Marceline, now whipping tears off of her face.

“We need to save him” said Betty weakly, sitting in the couch.

“Betty, are you ok? Did you get hurt?” said Jake approaching to the human woman.

“I’ll be good when we save Simon from that damned crown” she said, trying to get up but failing at it. She was dizzy and her body didn’t react to her impulses. She felt caged and useless, and that made her feel worse. She took deep breaths and after a few minutes she was able to stand up by herself.

“Where did it go?”.

“Towards the Ice Kingdom” answered Marceline.

“Good thing I still have this”. Betty took out from her backpack her flying carpet and jumped on it. “You don’t have to come with me, you already have helped me a lot and I feel like I would be very egoistical this time in asking you for your aid”.

“Are you crazy? Of course I’m coming with you!” said Marceline with a smile, forgetting about her tears.

“And us!” exclaimed Finn and Jake.

“I hope you succeed. I’ll be waiting for you guys” said the princess.

“You won’t come, Bonnie?” asked Marceline.

“You said it yourself, Marceline. I’m useless when it comes to magic. I will be of much more help staying here than going with you”.

“Hey, you are still a very smart person, Bonnie. And you totally kick ass. You could come in handy here”.

“But you said…”.

“I know what I said but I was mad, ok? I- I was shocked from… all this that is going on right now”. Marceline put her hand over Bonnie’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t have said that and I’m sorry, because even when you can’t deal with magic, you make a great job with everything else”.

Bonnie smiled, putting her hand over Marceline’s.

“Thanks Marceline”.

“Hey, girlfriends, are we going to save Simon or what?” said Jake.

“You can bet it” said Bubblegum.

“Yeah, we are gonna kick that crown into space” replied Marceline.

Finn and Jake jumped on Betty’s carpet while Marceline turned into a giant bat and carried Bubblegum with her. As they were approaching to the Ice Kingdom, they could feel the temperature lowering and noticed how the limits of the snow were ahead of where they used to be, and it was advancing.

“It’s going to cover the whole place in ice! It will be a matter of hours to get the whole continent, we need to stop it!” exclaimed Bubblegum.

“Oh, we are gonna stop it” said Betty with determination. “I don’t care how many times I have to save you from that crown, Simon. I will do it”.

* * *

“No. Not this again, please” he said, tears running down from his eyes. Painful tears that got frozen at the simple touch of the wind.

The blizzard was harder than he remembered; it felt like knives peeling down his skin. He was sure that, at a temperature like that, he would die at any moment. He wanted to die, but it never happened. Everything around was white and cold.

“ _You should know you are here forever_ ” said a distant but familiar voice.

“No, shut up. This is just a dream. A nightmare!” he screamed. He was trembling uncontrollably, laying in the ground and surrounded by snow.

“ _They are worthless, they are just prisoners of time. We are eternal_ ”.

“I want to be just like them. I want to be with my princess! I want to be with my Betty!”.

“ _She is just a burden!”._

“She is my life” he muttered.

“ _Yo! Crazy cloud!_ ” said another distant voice, but one that lit Simon’s face. “ _I want my boyfriend back!_ ”.

* * *

Betty was standing on her carpet, just a few yards away from the twirling cloud.

“And if you don’t bring him back right now, safe and sound, I’m going to condense you so hard that your atoms will become bricks!”.

The cloud, hovering above what used to be the Ice Castle, stopped twirling. It began to consume itself, surprising Betty and pushing her to retreat. With sonorous lightning, the cloud changed its shape and, in a luminous explosion, a laughing beast appeared in front of Betty.

“Did it become a mustache?” asked Finn confused, watching the scene from afar with his friends.

Indeed, the Ice Thing resembled a big mustache, or rather what used to be the flapping beard of the Ice King. Covered completely by white hair, it had a big nose and the gems appeared to be its eyes; but it seemed to have an eye missing of the three it should have: the one in the center, the biggest one, the one Simon had as his heart. From inside the Ice Thing, came out a pale blue orb and Simon was inside of it.

“Simon!” exclaimed Betty as she approached to the orb, but a wave of energy made her stop.

“Stop there, mortal” said Simon with an ominous and echoing voice.

“What- what are you talking about?”.

“We don’t need you. Simon doesn’t need you”. The human was expressionless and his eyes were white, but Betty could swear she saw a disgruntled frown in him, signal that Simon was still resisting the crown’s influence.

“Simon, listen to me! You have to fight!” she yelled. “You need to come back, I need you!”.

“I- I don’t…” Simon stuttered. He put his hands on his head, fell on his knees and began to groan and then scream. “Betty!” he yelled. “Betty, the crown! It… is too strong!”.

Betty’s eyes widened and her gaze was filled with hope. She got closer to the orb until she could touch it. “I’m here to help you. Follow my voice, only my voice”.

“Betty, no! Please, get away before I hurt you again!” he said between his groans.

“I’m never gonna leave you! I’m going to save you! I love you!”.

Suddenly, Simon got calmer. He looked up at Betty with a soft expression, almost a scared one.

“Betty… I need you… to die!”. Simon’s expression got fierce as another energy wave pushed Betty away. Simon casted an ice lance and, without giving her any chance to react, he threw it at her.

As the large projectile pierced her and the cold ice burned her muscles, she tried to find any sign of humanity in Simon’s eyes, but she found none. Everything was lost. She had been defeated by the same person she tried to save. Betrayed and neutralized by the person she loved. She didn’t bother to try anything else and let herself fall from the carpet towards the white kiss of the ground. She closed her eyes, flooded with tears, decided to let it all end.

Finn jumped against the crown with help of Jake, yelling a war cry of rage, as did Marceline, turning into a monstrous form with claws. The orb with Simon got back into the Ice Thing and it flew higher, getting ready for a battle. The Ice Thing threw freezing rays and icicles against its enemies, but they managed to barely dodge them. Although the human and the vampire attacked fiercely, their hits were unable to infringe too much damage in the monster, who laughed at their futile efforts.

Meanwhile, Bubblegum ran towards the place where Betty had fallen. She found her hovering a few inches over the snow, the carpet caught her in midair and avoided she touched the ground.

“Betty, you are alive!” exclaimed Bubblegum when she noticed Betty’s breath and the lance passing through her shoulder.

“Not for longer, I fear. I should just… let it all be” she said with a gloom voice.

“What? No! You won’t!” said Bubblegum.

“It’s no case anymore. I tried to save him… and I did” she whispered after she gulped. “But, in the end, it wasn’t enough”. The tears were coming down her eyes like they never did since she jumped through the portal.

“No, Betty, it’s not your fault! It- it is mine. It’s obvious I took the wrong gem, I’m the one to blame here”. Bubblegum held her hand and looked directly into her eyes. “We still can save Simon, you still can be happy with him. Your determination is the same I’ve seen in the most important people in my life. Marceline, Finn… they have never given up in something they really want. Please, if you love Simon, don’t give up”.

Betty was speechless. Even the pain and the agonizing sensation of defeat disappeared for a moment. The princess was right. If she was still alive, there was hope. Even if the cost was her life, she was going to save him. Betty sat at the edge of her carpet, groaning a little in pain. “Help me with this” she said, pointing at the lance.

It took two seconds for the princess to react at the request. Together, they took the blood-stained lance out of her shoulder. Bubblegum was going to throw it away but Betty kept the grip on it.

“I’m gonna use it. Carpet, take me to that hill over there”.

The carpet moved to the top of a high hill. There, she could see the fight between Marceline, Finn and Jake against the Ice Thing. Her hands trembled and her blood boiled upon hearing the cynical laughter of the monster that kept her boyfriend captive. The Ice Thing, although more powerful than its foes, was slowly forced to move backwards and didn’t notice Betty behind it, at top of the hill. But Marceline did and, although worried, grinned and doubled her attacks. Betty tightened the grip on the lance as she stood on the carpet.

The Ice Thing was getting closer to the hill, laughing and unaware of the strategy put upon it.

“Don’t you understand? Simon is mine for all eternity!” it exclaimed.

“No!” said Betty, attracting the attention of the Ice Thing. “He is _mine_ for all eternity!”.

She jumped from the carpet and landed on the Ice Thing’s face, getting ahold of its hair. The Ice Thing tried to get rid of her by spinning, twitching and hitting her with the flappy limbs it used to fly, but it was useless. Betty knew what to do but, at the same time, she didn’t. She had to take out one of the two gems, but which one? Another mistake and everything would be definitely lost. Then, a voice rang in her head, a familiar voice that came from inside the Ice Thing. She smiled and nodded.

She raised the lance in her right hand and stabbed the Ice Thing in its right eye, the right gem. The Ice Thing screamed in pain and a white glow surrounded it. The Ice Thing began to be consumed by that glow from its sides to its center until it disappeared. Simon appeared again, free from the orb but unconscious, and both he and Betty fell towards the snow under them. Once again, the carpet reacted and saved them both from hitting the ground.

Betty had the gem in her fist. With the remaining strength she had, she crawled over Simon, unbuttoned his vest and shirt, and opened the top of the plastic skin over his life support device. She changed the gems, but Simon didn’t wake up.

“Please, wake up. Even if I’m not here anymore when you do”. And so, she fell unconscious too, over Simon’s chest.

Their friends rushed to reach them and found them unconscious. Simon’s life signals were weak and Betty’s arm was covered in blood, her skin was cold.


	8. A Big Step

When he woke up, he felt his heart skipping a beat. Everything around him was white again, but it wasn’t as empty as before. He sat up and noticed electronics artifacts next to him giving information about his vital signs. He also realized he was lying on a bed. His memories were confusing and blurry; he couldn’t say if they had just been weird bad dreams. A memory came into his mind, obscure and undesirable.

“Betty!” he whispered. “Betty! Betty! Where are you?” he yelled. He tried to step out from the bed but his legs were weak and he tripped. “Please, let it all be a bad dream. Betty!” he yelled again.

Marceline came running into the room and found Simon in the ground, struggling to get into his feet. She rushed to help him and put him back in the bed.

“Simon, calm down”.

“No! Don’t put me back in the bed, please! I must find Betty! Where is she?” he said, sobbing. “What did I do, Marceline? What did I do to her?” he exclaimed in a desperate cry.

Marceline hugged Simon tightly.

“It’s ok, Simon. It wasn’t your fault. Everything is going to be ok” she said, caressing his hair.

“I- I killed her, Marceline! I’m a monster!” cried Simon.

“No, you are not a monster. You didn’t kill her” said Marceline with a calming voice. “But she’s… really delicate”.

“Then… she’s alive! She’s alive!” exclaimed Simon with renewed enthusiasm and joy. “Take me with her, please”.

“I can’t. She needs a lot of rest and you do too. You both have been through so much and you got it bad. It’s time you take it easy now”.

“I can’t take it easy, Marceline. She’s the love of my life! Please, take me with her!” he begged.

“I’m sorry, but it’s completely impossible. We put another gem in your chest and you have to remain connected to these machines to see your progress, Bonnie stated it very clear. But I promise you, I’m gonna take you with Betty the second after Bonnie gives you green light. Pinky promise”.

It took Simon several seconds to calm down. He was desperate, but at least he knew Betty was safe. He folded his pinky finger with Marceline’s.

“It’s ok, Marcy. I’ll wait”.

Simon laid in the bed again and Marceline left the room. The human looked at his chest. The new gem in his chest was smaller than before and it seemed to glow with a clearer tone than the previous one. Only then, when Marceline calmed him down, he perceived how tired he really was. His eyes closed and he put no resistance in falling sleep.

* * *

“Simon!” she screamed when she woke up. There was no need for Bonnie to force her to lie back again, the pain in her shoulder was enough to make her flinch.

“He is ok, Betty. You saved him… once again” said Bubblegum, approaching to Betty to accommodate her pillow.

“Is-is that true? Is he alive?” asked Betty, weakly but with happy.

“Yeah, why would I lie to you?” replied Bubblegum with a good mood.

“Then take me to him!” said Betty, trying to stand again. “I need to-“.

“Whoa! Easy there, gal!” exclaimed the princess, holding Betty gently by the shoulders. “You lost a lot of blood and you had hypothermia. You are not fully recovered yet”.

“How long has it been?” asked Betty, bringing her hand to her forehead when she began to felt a headache.

“You both slept for three whole days. Marceline told me Simon woke up just a few minutes ago. He immediately asked for you”.

“Really?”.

“Yeah! Just like you, he wanted to get out of the bed and look for you. He felt really bad for… what happened that day”.

“Right, that day” said Betty with a serious tone, gulping. “I know it was not his fault. I don’t blame him” she said, smiling. “I know him. I love him. No bonzo magic nor demon can change that”.

Bubblegum sat on the bed, next to Betty and took her hand. “What you did was admirable, really brave. I wish I could be as brave as you in some aspects of my life”.

“You helped me a lot there. I don’t know why I was about to give up on Simon!” she said with a laugh of incredulity. “Thank you, princess”.

“Call me Bonnibel” she said as she stood up. “Keep resting. We still have to see yours and Simon’s progress for a couple of hours. Give me good data and maybe you can meet each other for dinner”.

“Dinner? What time is it?”.

“Ten in the morning. It’s Thursday too if you wanted to know” said Bonnibel before closing the door behind her.

“Thursday, uh?” said Betty, getting comfortable in the bed and closing her eyes. “It used to be our date day”.

* * *

Later that same day, Moe went personally to check everything was working properly with Simon’s life supporting device.

“Everything seems to be alright. This gem, although smaller, it’s giving you more energy than the other one. Pretty sure this is in fact the gem of life”, Moe said as he closed the tap.

“Thanks a lot” said Simon. “Princess Bubblegum, can I see Betty now?” he asked.

“Not yet. Walk a little around the room, please”.

With a little help from Finn, Simon got up from the bed he was sitting on.

“Easy dude, you slept for a good while. Your legs can be crammed after that” said Finn.

Simon gave his first steps with help from the boy, but he soon let go off him and started walking normally, even trotting a little.

“Hey, watch this! It’s like nothing had happened at all!”

“You are already accustomed to the life supporting device, you just needed to get some blood in your limbs” said the princess and then took her radio. “Chewie calling Hematophagous, everything’s ready here. What is the situation there? Over”.

“ _I’m walking her to the dining room. And stop calling me that!_ ” replied Marceline through the radio.

“Negatory Hematophagous, that’s your name. We are bringing him there too. Over and out”.

“Her?” asked Simon with enthusiasm, “Is Betty awake?”.

“Sure she is. And you both have a date” said Jake, pulling Simon out of the room.

The dining room of the Candy Kingdom’s Hospital was wide and painted in pale yellow and pink. It had twenty tables with room for six persons each, ready to be used by patients and their relatives and friends. But that evening, only two persons would make use of it. She was already there, looking outside through the window. Bubblegum, Finn and Jake accompanied Simon to the entrance, but they didn’t step beyond. Marceline came at Simon after leaving Betty’s side and put her hand on Simon’s shoulder.

“She loves you a lot” she said before leaving the dinning room.

Simon stood frozen in place. There was a lingering fear in him brought by the memory of the last time they were together. But at the same time there was a magnetism calling him to get closer to her, hold her and never let her go.

“And that’s why I love her” replied Simon quietly before walking towards Betty.

The sun was falling down in the west, ready to rest. The last sun shines of the day made Betty’s red hair bright with the same intensity than the clouds far away. Simon sat in front of her and she turned at him with a smile.

“It’s date day” said Betty.

Simon couldn’t help but find her stunning. The orange bright of the sunset lit her face, providing a magic aura around her. He grinned. It was like an old dream, one of those he used to have before he lost his mind. His smile faded away. Was that another dream? Would he wake up and find himself in an icy bed with no memories of such dream? He trembled and a panic attack was coming at him. He had to at least apologize with Betty, even if she was just an oneiric illusion.

“I’m sorry for what I did, Betty. I couldn’t control myself! The Crown got me-“.

He stopped. He noticed her hands embracing his hands, and a warm sensation in them that soon invaded his whole body; that never happened in the dreams. She never stopped smiling at him and caressing his hands with her fingers. After so many years of knowing each other, they knew very well the hidden signs in common things they did. That gaze on him, that smile, that grip of her fingers was enough to know. He grinned again.

“I have something special for this date, my love” he said with tender voice. He made a quick movement with his hands, taking off the engagement ring in Betty’s finger. He crouched in front of her.

“You came from… so far away… in time! And just to be with me again, to save me. You are, without a doubt, the best thing that has ever happened to me. I owe you my life and the only thing I can pay you with is my life”.

He presented the ring to her again. She was actually surprised; she didn’t notice he had taken the ring out from her finger. And just like the first time, she felt overwhelmed with joy. She crouched next to Simon with teary eyes and presented her finger for Simon to put back the ring in it.

“You have loved me for one thousand years. How can I say no?” said Betty.

Simon put the ring in her finger and they both hugged tightly, laughing and tearing from the happiness they could barely stand. From the windows in the door of the dining room, their friends let out a collective ‘aaaww’ as they cheered the couple.

“So, when is the wedding happening?” asked Jake.

* * *

_One week later_

“Man, I didn’t expect so many princesses to actually come to Simon’s wedding” commented Finn.

“They are just here for the popularity and the gossip, Finn” replied Marceline, sitting next to him. “For them, this is just a contest of who brought the best dress”.

“Well, I think you look cute” the human complimented at her outfit: red pumps and a red shirtwaist dress with short sleeves. Her hair was short, at the level of her ears.

“Dude, don’t say it loud!” complained Marceline, giving Finn a friendly punch in his arm.

“You can’t hide the truth with punches” said Bubblegum approaching her friends.

“You look pretty good too, Peebs” said Finn giving her a thumbs up.

“Thanks Finn” she kindly replied. She was wearing a long turquoise bias dress that stressed her shape. Her hair, arranged in a long ponytail, was adorned by a white flower near her forehead. “See, that’s how you react to a compliment, Marcy”.

“Whatev’s” Marceline pouted. “Simon looks a little nervous, don’t you think?”.

Simon was at the front of the Candy Castle’s hall. He was wearing a classic smoking with a navy blue bowtie. He was fidgeting with his hands and making some gestures.

“He really is. I better go talk with him and give him some counseling” said Jake.

“Dude, you are not even married” said Finn.

“Then I better counsel him before he gets married”. Jake walked to Simon, stretching himself to same height of the man. “What’s up Simon? Thinking on an escape? There’s some big windows and a door in the back that-“.

“Escape? No! I don’t want to escape!” replied Simon with some voice cracks. “I’m just… overly excited. My head is spinning and my hands are getting sweaty. This is a big thing and it’s just… overwhelming. It’s like photo day”.

“Hey buddy, it’s ok. This is a big step for you and Betty. When Lady told me she was preggers, I fainted twice”.

“Thrice!” yelled Finn from his sit.

“Three times” rectified Jake. “But we were together, we always had been. No matter how big a step like this is, because you have someone at your side giving the same step with you”.

“Thanks Jake, those are some nice words” he said with gratitude.

In that instant, a quartet of strings began to play a romantic song.

“Well, it’s show time. Good luck, Simon” said Jake going back to his seat.

It was a very popular song for weddings in Ooo that Simon had never listened before, but that he loved immediately. BMO entered in the hall, wearing a white and gold dress and a cartwheel hat. The robot giddily walked in the corridor between the guests and threw white petals all around. A few seconds after BMO’s appearance, the bride entered in the hall.

Betty was wearing an a-line white wedding dress with a sweep train and a sweetheart neckline. She had a crystal penguin in her left strap and she was carrying a bouquet of blue flowers. Her smile and the steady pace in her walk, in perfect synchronization with the music, charmed Simon.

“You look so precious” whispered Simon when she was finally in front of her.

“Friends and guests” greeted Bubblegum from behind a table in front of Betty and Simon. “We are gathered here to unite the lives of Betty and Simon. The love between these two is something you can only know about in beautiful romantic tales, and their efforts for being together are worth of admiration and reconnaissance. Please, say your vows”.

Betty took Simon’s hands and looked at him with a happy and tender gaze.

“Since the moment I knew I loved you, this has been my biggest dream. Maybe not with mutant creatures and a gum person celebrating, but the essence is here. I can’t tell you anything that I haven’t already told you or showed you. You know I can give my life for being next to you, I would do it all the times it was necessary. Only you know how to make me happy, only you can stand all my flaws and help me grow. You are the only person I want to be with”.

Simon gulped and felt the joy soon to pour from his eyes in tears. He tried to speak but in his first try he could feel his throat dry and closing. He gulped again and looked at Betty’s eyes. Before he could get lost in them, he found the strength to get his word to come out fluently.

“Betty, you are the sun that gives me warm in my darkest days. You are the star I follow when I feel lost. You are the voice that leads me in the right way and saves me from myself. This is the biggest step I’ve ever taken and I’m not gonna lie, I’m nervous about it. But I’m taking it with you and that makes it easier. From now on, I won’t be scared of any step because I’m taking it with you”.

“Hey! He stole my line” complained Jake quietly, just to be shushed by Finn and a Marceline that was already using a handkerchief for her tears.

Bubblegum giggled internally at the cuteness in front of her and failed to control the faint blush in her cheeks.

“Those were some beautiful words from both of you. Now, proceed to put on the rings”.

Marceline walked towards them, offering them the rings on a small white pillow. The human couple took the rings and put them in each other’s fingers.

“Simon, do you accept Betty as your wife, in-“.

“I do” replied Simon, never stopping looking at Betty.

“I hadn’t finished but ok. Betty, do you-“.

“I do” replied Betty.

“Ok, but don’t kiss yet! At least let me finish this” said Bubblegum a little anxious. “I declare you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride now”.

A peck that lasted for a couple of seconds was enough to seal their love and make everyone in the hall stand up and cheer. The just married couple touched foreheads and laughed. It had finally happened. All their efforts and suffering had finally paid off. The dreams had stopped being mere dreams to become reality one thousand years later, but still with feeling as fresh as the beginning. That journey was done. It was time for them to begin a new one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this story!! I had a lot of fun writting it and I'm glad for all your hits, kudos and bookmarks. Thank you so much!! And keep reading my old and new stories

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story. I will be posting new chapters weekly. Please, follow me in my twitter (name in my profile) to get updates and previews. Leave a comment, please!! No matter how simple!! See ya!!


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